


One becoming Three

by EvilSlicey



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, IKEA, Multi, Original Child Characters, Polyamory, Raising Babies, Reassuring Lovers, Slice of Life, coming together, tornado twins - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 04:58:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17954030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilSlicey/pseuds/EvilSlicey
Summary: When Iris dies in a crisis, Barry finds new love in unexpected places. Here are pieced of their life together.(The character death is in the beginning then pure fluff and feels.)





	1. Lovers with News.

**Author's Note:**

> I love this idea, so you get to enjoy it.  
> Also I need more Ray in healthy relationships with people who wont stab him thank you.

Barry slumped on to the ground, fighting to catch his breath with a huge grin on his face. Cisco slumped next to him chuckling to himself though from exhaustion or from something funny it was impossible to tell. Caitlin took his other side; Killer Frost having retreated leaving the medical biologist worn and as equally sweaty and dirty as the others. Ralph had just fallen on the ground where he stood moaning slightly with discomfort.

Around them there was destruction, and small but manageable fires dotted the landscape, but the threat was taken care of, thousands of people have been saved and the city could start to recover. Barry could see the other heroes who had come to help them slowly come together, in celebration or solidarity it didn’t matter.

Barry found himself gently stroking Caitlin’s hair as she nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck as her breath evened out and she was clearly losing consciousness from exhaustion. He smiled when Ray landed down in front of them to check their stats and seemed relieved when they were of good health. He even joined on the other side of Caitlin to rub her back.

Finally feeling his body having recovered enough to be more functional Barry tapped his ear piece to check in.

“Sound off, any non-civilian causalities?” He asked with a quiet sigh.

“No injuries to report here. Most of us where focused on getting the civilians out.” Oliver’s voice sounded as exhausted as Barry felt. Barry was pretty sure he was slumped somewhere as well.

“Zari is being treated for burns and Kendra has a broken arm otherwise all clear over here.” Sara reported cooly.

“Minimal injuries seen on our end Flash.” Lyla’s voice was fresh as she was still in ARGUS headquarters.

“I ripped my skirt.” Kara replied brightly and Barry laughed as he could see her in the distance examining her skirt in midair and cast him a look with what he had to assume was a pout.

“Winn can fix it when we get back to the hanger or lab. First responders need any help getting to casualties?” Barry asked as he felt his finger meet Ray’s and he linked his hand with his behind Caitlin’s back.

“National Guard and the local base as on it, in addiction to our forces and the Meta response team. I think it might be best if those wearing masks or capes regrouped and prepared for debrief.” Lyla replied, reassuring Barry that he could relax for a minute.

“Barry.” A new voice entered the line and made Barry sit up straight with the use of his real name. The voice sounded thick and distant too

“Joe? What’s wrong? Do you need help at the precinct?” Barry started to untangle himself from his friends ready to run to help his friends and coworkers.

“No, Bear. We… we got the station covered.” Barry could hear a stifled sob in the man’s voice and found himself looking at Ray had moved to hold his shoulder with a concerned look on his face.

“Joe. Your scaring me. What’s wrong? Tell me, please?”

There was a pause and he looked around to see all the other heroes still and staring towards their little group. He could feel the spike of adrenaline among them.

“Bear, you need to get to the Central City Hospital ER. As soon as possible.” The was a quiet sob and a deep intake of breath. “Out of costume. Bring Wally.”

Barry felt his stomach drop out and world slow down as fear flood him and the air left his lungs.

Barry bolted upright gasping for breath as the covers from his bed feel from his form as he blinked at the bright sun light. He looked around and knew that he was just in his room, in his home, not on the battle field. He rubbed his face with a moan, brushing the tears beading in his eyes away before he slumped back down in to his waiting pillow.

He stared at the ceiling for a bit too long, replaying the nightmare in his head a hundred times, before he felt around for his cell phone to check the time. Barry audibly groaned when he was that he had slept tell past 10 and forced himself up, determined to not spend his whole morning on his day off asleep.

Barry slipped his feet in the adorable Green Arrow slippers and grabbed his overly thick red robe to shamble into living area. He weaved around the perfectly placed furniture as he made a bee line to the fridge to grab a gallon jug of orange juice which he started to chug before he began to really look around the apartment.

He smiled softly when he saw a large platter of muffins and a fresh pot of coffee waiting for him on the dinning room table with a folded note. He shoved the jug back in the fridge before he made his way to the table to fill his stomach with what he knew would be delicious food. He shoved one of the muffins in his mouth as he picked up the note.

“B,

Ray took Nora to school and I had to run to pick up something from a friend at Mercury labs. I’ll be home soon. Remember to eat and we have lunch plans.

Cait.”

Barry smiled at the note, knowing Caitlin only wrote it to reassure him that she was coming back soon so he wouldn’t worry as he remembered she had a meeting morning all ready. He tucked the note away and poured himself a cup of coffee. He was juggling the platted and his coffee as he made his way to the couch so he could eat his breakfast while watching someone of his Netflix queue when his eyes landed on a picture on the shelf.

Barry put down his supplies and grabbed the picture, lost in melancholy memory as he examined the image of Iris laughing in her wedding gown, taken before the ceremony from hell. He was still adrift and lost to the world when he felt an arm wrap around his waist with a face buried in the back of his neck.

“Hey, babe.” Ray whispered. “Past demons clouding your mind.”

“Not clouded, just remembering the good stuff.” Barry sighed and leaned against the warm form of the taller man.

“The anniversy is soon? You ready to talk about some plans?” The warm breath on Barry’s neck made him shiver. He shook his head and sighed.

“No. Joe probably has something planned. He likes to be in charge.” Barry turned around to smile his boyfriend, leaning in to kiss him softly as he replaced the photo to its spot. “Welcome home by the way. Any trouble getting Nora to school?”

“She spent the whole ride talking about some kind of puppy thing from a cartoon show and told me that she didn’t like Thomas Johns because he is meanie face.” Ray snickered. “Then she ran off to push him off of a bench.”

“Aw young love.” Barry chuckled as he buried his face into Ray’s chest. “Do we need to have how to use our hands talk?”

“I’d say yes if Thomas hadn’t laughed and offered to push her on the swings right after. I say we watch and see.”

“Hmm.” Barry pulled away and jumped on to the couch to take a long sip of his coffee. Ray joined him and grabbed one of the muffins he must have baked earlier. Barry put on Call the Midwife and let himself cuddle against Ray as they worked on clearing off the platter.

The were two episodes and 3/4s of the muffins in (only one of them going to Ray) when they heard the jingle of keys in the door. Both men sat up and paused the show to look less like they were curled up like cats for the last 2 hours. Caitlin walked with a large bag and a smaller box. She smiled at the pair as she dropped her eyes on the foray table.

“Let me guess, you two have been watching the Walking Dead since Ray got home?” She asked as she placed the box on the table and swung the bag up as well.

“Call the Midwife.” Ray admitted with a blush.

“Without me? You traitors.” Caitlin pouted and walked over to kiss both men. “Why do I keep you two?”

“Well I’m cute?” Barry offered with weak smile.

“I’m nice?” Ray added.

“Valid arguments.” Caitlin slumped on to the couch, cuddling in to Barry’s side and propping her feet up. “God, I spent the last 5 hours walking around Mercury listing to my friend spew out all her new research and her pointing out fun new equipment that Cisco has already made better versions of. I feel like my feet are one big ache.”

Barry chuckled and drew the woman against his chest. Ray hit play and burrowed into Barry’s other

side, sandwiching him in warmth. While his partners got swept up in the last half of the episode Barry found himself instead staring at the picture of Iris in her wedding dress and he felt like someone had reached in to his chest and squeezed.

He wondered what he and Iris would be doing right now if she was there.

Would he had taken Nora to school or made breakfast? Would Iris be watching a British period drama with him or working on an article? Would he be as happy with her as he was now?

The last thought made he drag his eyes away and stare out of the window.

Did he deserve to happy without Iris?

When he lost Iris four years ago, he had been alone with a one year old. He was so distraught that it was only the memory of Savitar and knowing that changing the past to save Iris could kill one of their friends or countless civilians, or even Nora, could stop him from running back in time. It hurt every day and he just shut down.

What surprised him was Ray. Ray had left the Waverider to help around Central with Wally while Barry was mourning, but every day he had made sure Barry got out of bed and ate, he took care of Nora when Cecile and Joe were busy, and he helped keep the house in order. He had moved into Barry’s guest room with anyone really noticing too. He even had whipped S.T.A.R. labs into more than just a front for vigilante justice, but an actual viable research facility.

Caitlin had been the other person there for him while the rest of his family was mourning. Barry is pretty sure every meal he ate for that first year was made by her, even if Ray was the one sitting with while he ate. She came by every night and just sat with him holding his hand. Sometimes she would put on a musical, sometimes she would just let him cry and, as time went by, they just held each other. All she worried about was his health, she let him take his time with his grief.

Over time things had changed.

Nora started talking and not long afterwards it wasn’t just Dada but Mama Cat and Baba Ray. Family pictures showed not just Barry and the Wests but Caitlin and Ray too. Barry started living his life and spending less time mourning, but Caitlin and Ray were still there.

They started to be part of his happiness and joy, not just his sadness. Barry checked in with both of them through out the day, when something happened, he called them to tell them before calling Joe or Wally, and he looked forward to hearing from them. Days wound up with them around a dinning room table or on a couch talking more than not.

Then things changed further.

Barry started thinking about Caitlin and Ray as more than friends. His heart rate started jumping when he saw them. He wanted to do more than sit or talk with them. When he finally got to kiss Ray, he was so happy he never wanted to stop, even when he felt guilty about not kissing Caitlin or was wondering if Ray had feelings for her too.

It had been a long interesting conversation and two years, but it led to him here now.

Cuddled with the two people he loved on a Friday afternoon.

“Penny for your thought.” Caitlin broke Barry from his thoughts and made him blush.

“Sorry, sorry. Did Sister Monica Joan say something funny?” Barry turned back to the screen, surprised to see Ray pause the show.

“Hey, Bear, talk to us. You were lost there for a minute.” Ray implored, his hands moving stroke the back of his neck.

“Its nothing. I was… I was just thinking about what me and Iris would be doing right now if…”

“If she was alive.” Caitlin finished as pushed herself up to lean on the back of the sofa instead of his chest. Barry automatically felt a loss and wanted to pull her back but knew better when he saw her face.

“You know you can tell us if you’re feeling sad or worried Bear.” Ray said soothingly, pulling Barry closer like he was compensating for his loss of contact.

“I’m not feeling sad, not really, maybe a bit worried but not sad.” Barry reassured, smiling at Caitlin so she could see he was being honest. “I’m happy with you. Both of you. It’s just…”

“If things were different, we wouldn’t have been a possibility.” Caitlin finished for him and smiled back with a little sadness in her eyes. She reached over and held his hand while she seemed to be collecting her thoughts.

“I understand Bear. I think the same things all the time. After Ronnie…” Caitlin paused and gulped, moving to look at the two men better. “I lost Ronnie, twice. Each time it felt like the whole world would end. I tried to move on, and I just meet with disaster it felt. But every time I felt like giving up, I had you and I had the lab.”

“I was destroyed when I lost Anna. All I could think about was helping people so no one else would ever die like that again. I tried to find love, but I always forced it, was so intense with my need I basically doomed it from the start. You guys made me not want to work so hard, because you didn’t ask for anything and made me feel like I could be myself.” Ray added quietly.

“We are all broken then?” Barry smiled brought up Ray’s hand to kiss it.

“But we make each other whole again.” Caitlin nodded. She looked away right afterward with a distant look on her face. Barry reach forward and grabbed her hand too.

“Caitlin, I don’t feel bad about our relationship. Yes, I wish I still had Iris. She was my first love, my wife and the mother of my child. I wanted to spend for every moment of our lives together, and I like to say in a way we did, but the life we have now is good. I love you. I love Ray. We work.” Barry shifted a little to look over at Ray. “You aren’t my second best. You’re my happiness, my family, I would marry you both if I could. You are my life now.”

Caitlin wiped her eyes, tears having been beaded in the corner, and crawled back into Barry’s lap to resume the cuddling.

“No regrets.” She whispered softly.

“No regrets.” Ray and Barry agreed in unison.

“So wanna restart show? Or should we actually get up to go to dinner?” Ray asked into Barry’s hair.

“I kind of just want to be comfortable for a bit longer, before we have to face the world again.” Barry groaned as he held Caitlin close and felt Ray’s heart beat under his head.

“I like that.” Caitlin whispered. “Though, we might need to face the world sooner than expected.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m late.”

Barry and Ray sat up bit to look at the woman in their lap.

“Late?” Ray repeated.

“Late as in…?” Barry gulped.

“I don’t know for sure… I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday to find out for sure.” Caitlin blushed.

“How… how… late are you?” Ray asked nervously.

“Uh… I missed two…” Caitlin murmured.

“Two months! Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Barry asked while he blinked in surprise.

“I knew that things were harder when things got close to the anniversary… the first one I missed could have been a coincidence and the second one… I didn’t want to take away from any sadness you might have. Especially since… we have no way of really knowing who the father is.”

Barry pulled Caitlin closer to his chest.

“It doesn’t matter, Caitlin. Me or Ray… the three of us are in this together.” Barry kissed the top of her head. “You’re already an awesome mom, and doing it again from the start, that would be amazing.”

Barry moved to let Ray kiss Caitlin too. Barry also leaned in to kiss Ray too when he saw how shocked he was.

“You ok Ray?”

“We’re going to be parents?” Ray smiled brightly. “I think we need a bigger place.”

Barry started laughing, followed quickly by Caitlin and then Ray. They laughed for a good minute in each other’s arms.

“This might be an unusual family, but it is our family.” Ray finally broke the laughter. “Do we have to wait until Monday? I can go get a home test now, or we can go to the lab right now and know right away.”

“I want to do this right.” Caitlin smiled. “But… I don’t want to know who the father is. We aren’t just two plus one, we are three. You’re both the fathers as far as I’m concerned.”

“Of course.” Barry nodded and looked over at Ray who was smiling

“Yes, yes. Monday, we will know for sure. As a family”

Barry looked over at the picture of Iris one time and smiled.

Iris may be gone, but he hopes she would be happy with his and Nora’s life now. Especially with a new little brother or sister for Nora on the way.


	2. Puppies in Ikea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have never gotten lost in an Ikea, I salute you.

“Ok we need a crib because Nora’s fell apart in the move, a changing table, some storage stuff for the baby stuff, Caitlin wants a rocking chair and that room needs a rug with that hardwood.” Barry reminded Ray on the escalator heading up to the display floor of Ikea. “Do you want to eat before we look, or do you want to eat after?”

“Barry, honey, I know you. We are doing both.” Ray smiled as he pulled Barry close to kiss him before the hopped off the escalator and pulled him to the café. “What I don’t understand is, why are we shopping at Ikea? We can afford an actual baby store.”

“Ikea is cuter.” Barry reasoned as they got into line and started examining the menu board. “I need you to get 2 slices of cake, so I don’t feel like a pig with 4 on my tray.”

“What about me?” Ray cast Barry a fake pout with a chuckle.

“You know you’re just going to get a salad and maybe an apple tart, you can look weird with your disproportionate amount of baked goods to normal meal food. I on the other hand am getting two hot entrees on top of that cake. Speedster needs out weight all.” Barry joked.

“Fine, fine, fine. You’d think you were the pregnant one for all the food.”

“For shame! I eat a perfectly health amount of food.” Barry gasped with fake dramatics. They collected their trays and began piling up their food. Once they paid and found tables, with Barry making the run for their drinks and silver were while Ray set up their food like an adult meal they dug in with contentment.

“Hey, Bear?” Ra broke the silence that had fallen while they were eating with a bit of nervousness. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, babe. Anything.” Barry took Ray’s hand and smiled at his bashful boyfriend.

“You know how the new place has that den off the main living areas we were trying to decide what to do with? What would you think if we got some place I could work on some prototypes and maybe store some components? That way I could work from home a bit more often with you and Caitlin needing to work out of the lab more often than not.”

“It would be weird for a biological engineer to work from home.” Barry smiled and leaned back to think.

The trio had moved in a new larger house on the outskirts of Central recently, dealing with the stress of a move with a 6-month pregnant girlfriend.  The place was almost triple their old space, needing some work which Wally, Rene and Nate (with an occasional appearance by Mick) were helping with. This was the first time in a month that Barry or Ray could do anything for their family without at least 3 other people being involved, not counting Caitlin, she was always welcome.

“What about the apartment above the garage that needed all that work? It’s bigger and you could use the garage underneath as testing facility.”

“I didn’t… want to take such a big space off the table… what if we need it?” Ray looked uncomfortable.

“For what? Guests? If that happens, we have 3 spare rooms and like you mention the den. If you really want the smaller space you can have it, but babe, you can have the bigger space for anything you want.”

“Really? It won’t seem… selfish of me… to take the whole garage for my work place?”

“Its your home too, and you could even put a play room in that apartment for watching the kids while you work or keep it completely just for you. You know me and Caitlin, everything we do can be done in the living room or kitchen, you need your own space. Would you rather the den or the garage apartment.”

“That garage apartment. Your right, that room would be great. Though… I would want to pull down that wall separating the bed room from the main space.”

“I’ll text Wally about the change in plans. So, lets add some workspace/office furniture to the list.” Barry hastily added the new items Ray would probably need. “Anything else?”

“We need a new medicine cabinet and we could use at least one more sofa, maybe 2 for the living room.”

“Boy it’s a good thing we are planning on getting everything but the small stuff-“

“And your oat crisps.”

“And my oat crisps today. Everything else we will have to have delivered.” Barry finished of his drink as he finished some notes on his list and smiled at Ray. “You done eating and ready to go?”

Ray blushed and nodded, the pair gathering up their dirty dishes to take back to the collection spot.

The pair started walking through the display floor, checking and testing out furniture and accessories. They had already picked out a sofa for Ray’s work space and two more for the living room, 3 arm chairs and made note of a few accessories to grab in the warehouse when Ray stopped and look around.

“Wait… we were just in the living room section… shouldn’t we be in the bedroom section?” Ray asked looking around them. Barry joined and looked around in confusion too.

“I think so, did we get turned around?” Barry asked looking for one of the arrows on the floor.

“Must have, there is a bed we need to head there.” Ray threaded his fingers with Barry’s and pulled him towards the bedroom area.

The pair got lost 4 more times, winding up in the living room section twice and back at the café once before they finally made it to the children’s section. Ray and Barry were getting tired, so they found a bench to sit on while looking over their list.

“I feel like Ikea was a bad idea.” Ray moaned as he looked around at the brightly colored furniture.

“From here it’s the small business ideas then Offices. We won’t get lost again.” Barry groaned into Ray’s shoulder.

“We said that before.”

“How does this keep happening? We aren’t even using the short cuts.”

“Ikea must secretly be linked to hell and designed to torture people.”

“I’ll call Constantine, or you can in the morning. We need to pick out a crib.” Barry said as he tried to steel himself to stand back up.

“Fine, but I’m stuffing the bags with kids’ stuff. I don’t want to come here in a week because we needed more finger puppets.” Ray said while tugging his bag up hirer on his shoulder.

“Why would we need more finger puppets? Why would that ever be a need and not a want?”

“Evil demon that has to be defeated with the power of friendship?” Ray offered weakly.

“I wish life was normal sometimes.”

“We are lost in an Ikea. How must more normal can life get?”

Barry chuckled and kissed Ray before he got up to continue their shopping.

They were comparing cribs when Barry’s phone rang, and he saw the snowman emoji that signified Caitlin was calling him on the display. He showed Ray before he answered it and put Caitlin on speaker.

“Hey, honey, we just got to the cribs.”

“Haven’t you two been there for almost two hours?” Caitlin’s voice was bubbly as it rang form the phone.

“We got lost.” Ray admitted as he tested a drawer on the bottom of crib front of him.

“Multiple times. What’s up?”

“I was trying to catch you before you bought anything.”

“Oh, are you going to join us after all?” Barry asked bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. Caitlin had had to finish an experiment and some tests that morning and had an ultrasound that she had barred the two men from after the last time where Barry and Ray had scared the poor technician with questions about the health of the baby.

“I can’t. I just left the radiology clinic and am heading to my doctor.”

“Wait, why? Did the find something? Is something wrong? Is it bad? Don’t worry, you don’t have to be alone, I can get us there in 4 minutes.” Barry started to grab at Ray, ready to flash them to Caitlin’s side in an instant.

“No! Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine, I just need a prescription for some iron tablets and to make some changes to the birth plan. Don’t worry. Please, I really need you order the baby stuff. It’s just…” Caitlin took a deep breath. “There is some news.”

“Caitlin, given all of our pasts I think I can speak for Barry, who I think stopped breathing, that we can’t really handle any suspense here. Please, what is the news?” Ray asked as he moved to start rubbing the Barry’s back.

“We are having twins. We need two cribs.” Caitlin said quickly.

The two men went very still and stared at each other while they tried to process the information.

“Barry? Ray? Are you ok? You still there? Hello?”

“Twins.” Barry said quietly.

“Twins.” Ray repeated his eyes widening and a smile starting to spread on his face.

“TWINS!” Barry crowed loudly and jumped to throw his arms around Ray’s neck.

“OH MY GOD WE ARE HAVING TWINS!” Ray shouted, making the woman walking by them jump in fear. He quickly calmed down and apologized, repeating ‘we are having twins’ the whole time. Eventually the pair calmed down and looked around them.

“It’s a good thing we were shopping for new baby furniture.” Barry said calmly though his wide-eyed fear betrayed it.

“Yeah, about that. Hire the assembly service. I am already panicking and if my cribs fall apart before I put a baby in them, I’m letting Frost ice you both.” Caitlin’s smile was evident in her voice, but Barry knew the threat was real.

Barry said good bye wit a promise to not attempt to assemble all the furniture himself.

Ray was practically vibrating besides him as he looked around at all the baby stuff. Barry took pause though when he saw a bit of darkness in his eyes.

“Ray.” He asked softly as he laced his fingers with his drawing the man’s attention back to him. Ray smiled and tried to hide the uncertainty in his eyes.

“We need so much baby stuff Bear.” Ray declared happily.

“Yeah, and we will pick it out in just a second. Were you scared to ask for the apartment for your lab because… your worried we won’t want you anymore?” Barry asked softly as he pulled the man closer and back out of the flow of traffic.

“I…” Ray looked away and pretended to be examining a crib. “No?”

“Ray, I love you and Caitlin loves you and Nora loves you. There is no way we can work without you. I’m pretty sure Frost would have killed me by now without you where to make her laugh.” Barry reassured with a soft kiss. “These babies, they aren’t mine and Cait’s or yours and hers, they are ours. No matter what.”

Ray sagged and gave Barry a half smile that made him look like a puppy who was just caught chewing on the furniture.

“I guess I still have some self-worth issues to work on, huh?” He apologized with a shrug.

“We’ll work on it.” Barry reassured with a squeezing hug before he pulled away. “Now cribs, changing table, bags and bags of toys because we are man children who want to play with them all.”

Ray laughed and helped Barry pick out furniture, while filling his bag with toys and wall hooks. They picked out more furniture than planned, writing down the numbers for some play sets and grabbing some of those tunnels that kids like to crawl through.

When they got to the office furniture, Ray happily talk about designing his office and a play room for the kids in the apartment above the garage. He didn’t even care that Barry started spinning around in a chair when he got to into it and started drawing a floor plan on their map.

Eventually, after stopping for food and getting distracted by lighting, cookware, rugs and wall art (and stopping to grab some pots for Nora to plant her own garden in) the pair finally made it to the front where they went to place an order for the furniture and its assembly.

Barry was a little shy to be spending so much in one trip, still not use to having money after all these years. Ray kept quietly reassuring him that it was money well worth it for the comfort of their children.

Once they finally payed for everything Ray surprised him with a couple of trays of cinnamon rolls and two boxes of his favorite crisps.

Leaving the store, Barry realized that he couldn’t imagine being happier. Shopping with Ray for their girlfriend and children was one of the best experiences in his life.

Even if he realized he somehow lost a sock in the store somewhere. Not that he would let either of them know that.


End file.
